Moral of 5 Smooth Stones~Trust, but Prepare!

Moral of 5 Smooth Stones~Trust, but Prepare!

David was young, curious and somewhat impetuous. At least that’s the impression one might get when reading the story in 1 Samuel of his encounter with Goliath in the valley of Elah.

He was also a young man full of faith. And what he saw when he left his father’s sheep in the care of another shepherd to check out the war drama between the Israelite and Philistine armies, left him incredulous. It seems the Philistine giant Goliath taunting and threatening the Israelites created such angst among the soldiers they shrunk from duty and hunkered down in despair!

That made David angry so he decided to take matters into his own hands. His insistence on confronting Goliath wore at Saul’s resolve and the weak king relented. Brash and bold David even threw off the kings armor, instead opting to load his quiver with 5 smooth stones.

Now, I’m sure most of us would have no qualms accepting that David felt “led” to take on the giant. No one in their human right mind would willingly confront a person 3 to 5 times one’s size. And with only 5 stones in our bag of ‘tricks’. David obviously knew from the Lord that the job was his to do and that PAPA would guide the stone once out of David’s sling!

So why load the quiver with more than one stone? After all, if PAPA God has control of it’s path; then one stone is all that is needed. Right?

David knew PAPA had control of the outcome; what he didn’t know was which stone would be the one chosen to hit the mark! Therefore, the young shepherd went prepared. If it wasn’t the first out of his sling – then perhaps the 2nd; or 3rd. Then again, it might be the last one that would fell the giant.

David was not about to be presumptuous in his calculations. His life and that of the entire Israelite nation depended on one of those stones hitting Goliath between the eyes. To assume to know which one or the precise path was up to PAPA.

It was David’s job to load the sling; pull back on the strap and let fly! He was prepared to continue to let fly until one of those 5 smooth stones landed precisely where it was intended to land.

Too often in our lives, we know in faith that PAPA has asked something of us. And we set out to accomplish it without calculated preparations. We just assume to know why, where and how – when such is not in our purview. The outcome belongs to PAPA and we may know what that will be. But we rarely know the path the outcome will take to arrive at its final destination!

To do so, is nothing more than presumption. And most of us know what that gets us. At the least, it’s a great deal of egg on the face!

The moral of 5 smooth stones is simply “go prepared“. Go in faith – but go knowing it’s a cooperative effort. Don’t lean on our human understanding which is flawed at best. Lean on the knowledge that PAPA has called us to the task and given us the faith required to attempt it.

But consider all angles and let PAPA choose the one that will hit the mark. When we do, it matters little which “stone” is chosen.

The important thing is the outcome lands exactly where it’s intended and accomplishes exactly what it’s meant to do!

[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://fbcdn-profile-a.akamaihd.net/hprofile-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-1/p160x160/10933880_10152999878054264_1749306739390848122_n.jpg?oh=3b9b3e144f0b306aa0cc748b03d9dd6a&oe=55550352&__gda__=1432002183_d9a5e0b3a35fc3cfbbe66ed7bc7658c9[/author_image] [author_info]My passion is to see women become all they are designed to be – personally, professionally and most of all – spiritually. I write, teach, mentor and coach with that passion in mind. As an author and prolific blogger, I reach out to women in all walks of life, especially women of faith to empower and equip them for greatness. [/author_info] [/author]